sutton046

I had a few good wins at the local markets this morning. An English made Stanley No.5 for $30 in good condition, a nice old metal drill box (1/16 - 1/4" in 1/16th increments) for $1, a beautiful English made "Whitmore" 6" wood vice for $18 (I am always on the hunt for these vices - great for kids' benches), plus a few other goodies. However the bargain of the day was a plywood toolbox full of saws. Nine saws, in fact. The box and contents for the princely sum of $20. Even if only 3 of the saws were any good, it was still the bargain of the day.  The toolbox with the 3 saws worth using. Minus the other 6 more dodgy saws. Of the 9 saws which came in the beaut tool box, 6 had plastic handles and were of very low quality. Scraper material if I'm lucky. However, the remaining 3 saws are worth putting back into service. Here's the specs of these 3 saws: Disston tenon saw, more modern type. 10 inch blade, 13 point. Good condition. Small panel saw. 13 3/4 inch ...

It was a great day today. The Mosman Park Eco Fair was organised by the wonderful group of people from the Mosman Park community, including bods from St Lukes Anglican Parish in Mosman Park, and they all did a fantastic job too. There was a wide array of stalls, displays, speakers, and activities. I was there doing woodwork with kids all day. It was flat out all day! Nice work!  Kids love using the brace and bit!   Looks like a lidded box under construction.  This activity was just pure creative play. There were no set projects. Just benches, hammers and nails, a few other tools, and a mountain of wood. All the timber was derived from factory waste, packaging, roofing off-cuts, etc - which would normally all have been heading into the waste stream. Better to recycle and redistribute it back out in to the community in hundreds of things the kids have created and taken home!  The "sawing station" in use - textbook technique, too! Well done, Kiddo. ...

Aahh!... another set of stairs...   Amid all the different types of woodwork I do, what I enjoy about building stairs is the brain challenge they provide - particularly in the planning and setting out phase. One of my latest jobs has been to build a set of external stairs for a client. The task was to plan and build a set of stairs which would fit into a particular space on an existing building which was undergoing significant renovations. The stairs would comply with the Building Code of Australia, and made primarily from recycled jarrah. That's the space available to build the stairs ... in front of the red brick wall. View from the top looking down. The structure would have to keep 1.5m off the fence line. Planning the job. Having taken measurements on site, it was then down to the planning stage - which always involves doing scale drawings on my trusty drawing board. I have never got into CAD drawing on the computer. I still like the old...

Over the weekend of 30 April - 1 May, I had the pleasure of working with another group of Earth Carers. This event was funded by the East Metropolitan Regional Council. The EMRC is the regional local government body working on behalf of six member Councils located in Perth's eastern suburbs. Waste Management is one of the EMRC's key responsibilities. The Earth Carers have completed a wonderful free course in waste minimisation and management. More info available at   http://www.emrc.org.au/earth-carers.html  . Passionate about recycling, reducing waste, and reducing consumption, these EMRC Earth Carers had the opportunity to learn about trees and timber, and acquire some basic woodworking skills. The timber we used was primarily all timber removed from the land fill stream: packaging material, industrial waste, material rescued from kerbside collections, and timber salvaged from skip bins. What a treasure trove of resource...